


Love Is A Battlefield - No One Can Tell Us We're Wrong!

by JD_Steiner



Series: Love Is A Battlefield [1]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: M/M, Season 10 Ep 9 and 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:06:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22190776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JD_Steiner/pseuds/JD_Steiner
Summary: Set in: Season 10 Between Episodes 9 and 10**Spoiler Alert**3..2...1.......They've got three episodes left to make the fuck up and get married!In the last episode, Ian is tried to win Mickey back but it didn't work and Ian hobbled away, defeated. Still unsure if he wants to get married, he ends up throwing Mickey's jealousy right back in his face after sabotaging Byron's pretty Vespa (Poor scooter.)Being on the fan groups that I am on Facebook, I have seen some behind the scenes pictures from the next episode, including a new character we haven't met just yet named Cole. What follows is my interpretation of what I think may happen in the next episode!Enjoy!
Relationships: Gallavich - Relationship
Series: Love Is A Battlefield [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1781638
Comments: 7
Kudos: 29





	1. Hobbles

“Hey... Hey Hobbles..” Lip shouts towards Ian as he goes by, heading towards the back door, passing by Lip who is standing next to the sink. On the counter, the coffee pot gurgled and bubbled as it brewed.

Ian stops and turns around to see his older brother smiling at him.

“Where are you going at this hour? It's going on for midnight.”

“To see Mickey.” Ian hangs his head. He knows what's coming.

“Why? Didn't he say he didn't want to see you until you did some personal healing bullshit or something like that?” Lip laughed at this as the coffee finished brewing. Reaching up, he grabbed a mug from the cupboard.

“You're kidding me, right? You're siding with Mickey?”

“No, I'm not saying I'm siding with Mickey. I'm just saying you should sleep on it, is all.”

Lip was pouring himself a coffee “You sure you don't want one?”

Ian hesitated momentarily before smiling “Yeah, sure.”

Leaning his crutches against the kitchen table, Ian shrugs back out of his jacket, hanging it by the back door. Lip came over to the table with two cups of coffee just as Ian took the closest seat. Lip sat at the head of the table, next to his younger brother so that they could continue their conversation.

“How long has it been now since you've seen Mickey?”

“Uhh about a week I think.”

“What was he like the last time you saw him? Remind me again..”

Ian smiled at Lip “I take it you're still not getting much sleep? How's life in the RV?”

“It's fine, you're right though, still not much sleep. The joys of a newborn.” Lip sipped his coffee, savoring it a little. “This is the first hot cup of coffee I've had all day! This morning mine went cold when Fred spit up and it got all over me, all over him. Oh man, it was a mess. It took me a good twenty minutes to a half-hour to clean us both up. I ended up bringing Fred in and giving him a bath in the sink cause it turns out he shit himself too and did a good job of it...” Lip kinda had a proud dad smile on his face.

“Ewww, gross!” Ian made a face “The joys of a newborn.”

Lip couldn't help but laugh at this a little “Yep, that's my boy!” grinning from ear to ear. “So back to you and Mickey, you were saying it's been what? A week since you've seen him?”

“Yeah.”

“And you said he's already dating someone else?”

“Yeah, some rich twink named Byron. I know he's dating Byron just to make me jealous.”

“Well, is it working?”

“I want him back don't I?” Ian sipped his coffee “I think Mick just became infatuated with the first guy he came across, just to fuck with me.”

“What was your plan then?” Lip sipped his coffee

“Well, I was gonna go over there, see if we could talk this out, like adults. If all else fails, I was going to propose...” Ian reaches into his shirt and pulls out the necklace he's wearing with two bands on it.

“Didn't you try that already?”

“I did, except it didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted, Mick ended up calling me a drama queen, said I was acting like a teenager with my promise ring bullshit.”

“Yet he's the one dating some twink he moves in with after barely knowing him for five or six hours? That's messed up.”Lip agrees “You're the one being grown-up about this, wanting to talk it out and all of that. I think it's just miscommunication. You both need to be on the same page. Relationships take commitment, communication, and work.”

“Whoa, either Brad or that AA shit is really starting to rub off on you.” Ian joked. This earned a soft punch in the arm from Lip.

“I miss him Lip, and I just want him to come home, where he belongs.”


	2. You Fall Behind...The Second Hand Unwinds

After tossing and turning most of the night, Ian awoke the next morning groggy and tired, his leg throbbing a little. Reaching down, he rubbed it a little as it continued to throb before carefully sitting up in bed and reaching for his Bipolar meds as well as his pain killers.

There, on the nightstand next to his lithium, still on the chain, were the rings that he was going to propose with. All the feelings from the night before came rushing back to him as he ran his fingers over them gently, a tear catching in his eye.

Sniffling, he moves his hand to the bottle of lithium _'Small steps, Ian'_ he tells himself as he doles out the correct doses of his meds into his palm, he puts them all in his mouth washing them down with the part can of diet coke on the nightstand from the night before. Finishing the can, he lays it down on the nightstand with a belch as he grabs a white tank top from off the foot of the bed and pulls it on over his head and grabbing his crutches, heads downstairs.

“Morning, Family!” he greets everyone as he reaches the last few steps. Lip, Tammi and Debbie echoing the greeting back as he descends the last few stairs “Is there any more coffee?”

“I'm just gonna make a new pot.” Tammi offers, turning around she has the baby carrier on from which Freddy peers out.

“Sounds good.” He looks down to see Freddy watching him curiously.

“Hey, Freddy! Mornin' Lil' nephew!” Ian greets him before heading to the kitchen table, he sits down next to Frannie who looks up at him with a mouth full of sugary cereal.”Morning, Frannie.”

Once the coffee is ready, Lip joins Ian at the head of the table “How do you feel now that you've slept on it?”

“Slept on what?” Debbie joined them as Tammi made her coffee in a travel mug.

“What I have to do to get Mickey back...” Ian filled her in.

“Still with this shit?? I told you already, Ian... If marrying Mickey makes him happy, then do it. If you have to get a divorce later, so what?”

“It's not that simple, Debs...”Lip began.

“You've been together off and on for over what? Ten years now?? It's about time you two really committed to one another. Sure, Frank and Monica are a shit example; so strive to set a better one!”

“Maybe I should get you working on Lip next!” Tammi jokingly pipes up as she walks to the back door, placing a hand on Lip's shoulder she leans down and kisses him “Love you, see you later!.”

“Love you. See ya later, Freddy.” Lip kisses Tammi before leaning in and giving Freddy a kiss on the head.

“See ya later, Family, I'm off to cut hair.” With a wave, Tammi leaves to drop the baby off at daycare. Lip, don't steal anything!”

“She thinks she can make an honest man out of Lip Gallagher?” Ian jokes, teasingly, clamping his hand down on his brother's shoulder.

“You're one to talk! You are trying to decide if you want to marry your south side hoodlum convicted felon of a boyfriend after you basically pulled a Fiona and left him at the altar or if you want to remain single and possibly alone because you are afraid to face your fear of commitment.”

“I did not...and that's not a thing now is it?” Ian looks from Lip to Debbie, who speaks up first.

“Oh yeah, it's a thing. It's always been a thing.”

“I'm not afraid of commitment.” Ian looks at Lip then to Debbie “I know what I have to do!”

“Good!” Debbie chugs down the last mouth full of coffee “Cause I gotta go drop Franny off down the street. Vee is watching her this morning so I can run some errands. It will go by quicker if I don't have a kid tagging along.” She turns to her daughter “Come on Frannie, let's go upstairs and get you dressed so we can go to Auntie Vee's house!”

Frannie eagerly gets up from the table, grabbing her bowl and spoon, putting it in the sink before going upstairs with Debbie to get ready for the day.

Ian turns to Lip, who is still at the table with him “So what about you? Got any plans for the day?”

Lip lights up a smoke “I gotta go into work. I got this bike I'm fixing on the side to help pay Tammi's medical bills and for baby expenses...Why? Did you have something in mind?”

“Nah, just hopin' you'd be here if things don't go well with Mickey.” He lied.

Truthfully he had hopes that Lip had nothing planned and that he would at least offer to give Ian a ride. That way in case things went bad, he had a backup and a quick way out of there.

Lip gets up from the table “I gotta go get ready, but we'll talk again later, yeah? Let me know how it goes?”

_**That Night....** _

Ian hobbled up the street, looking around nervously. The closer he got to Byron's place, the stronger the butterflies in his stomach got and it made him feel like he wanted to puke. It would have been easier if he had gotten a ride, the journey here hadn't been pleasant. With Transit full of regular morning Chicago commuters, he had been jostled around and now his leg was quite sore again from standing most of the way on the 'El' which also didn't help his mood.

Remembering he had bought along his pain pills, he wanted to pop one but didn't have anything to drink.

 _Keep hobbling, Ian_ he told himself and before he knew it, he found himself outside Byron's apartment.

Looking up at the older but clean white building, he wished that he and Mickey could afford a place like this to call home..a place of their own.

Glancing over at the take out place next door, train of thought broken he decided to go in and buy a drink.

A minute or so later, thanking the cashier, Ian exited the take out place and unscrewed the cap of the bottle of water he had just purchased. Drinking some first, Ian laid the water down and reached in his pocket for the pain pills. Just as he opened the bottle, Mickey came out the front door of the apartment building carrying a garbage bag that Ian presumed contained his clothes and other personal items.

Ducking back into the shadows, Ian hoped that Mickey hadn't seen him. Being a red-head and on crutches, he was pretty hard to miss. Staying as still and quiet as possible, he watched Mickey stop and light up a cigarette, taking a few puffs as he looks around as if trying to decide which way to go. After about half a minute or so, he strolls away walking left. Picking up the water from the window ledge, Ian pops two pills in his mouth and chugs some more of the water. Sticking everything in his pockets he quickly hobbles after Mickey before he could disappear.

Staying far enough behind so he wouldn't be seen, Ian tailed Mickey, sticking to the shadows as much as possible.

The black garbage bag seemed promising. Even more so as they approached one of the many entrances to the 'EL' which would take him back to the south side, home.

But as they got closer, Mickey didn't cross the street and head over to the entrance, he kept on walking.

 _Where the hell are you going?_ Ian quietly asked himself, curious to see what Mickey was up to. _Did he really want to see what could potentially happen?_ No, not really but he had to do this.

After a few more blocks, Ian realized that they were now in an area of Boystown familiar to both of them. Mickey had led him right to the club, The Fairy Tale, where Ian used to work. Where Mickey had been jealous over anyone that would come around to get a lap dance and threatened to break knuckles if anyone got too close. Now, obviously he wasn't here for Ian, who watched him shove the black garbage bag into the trash before turning and walking towards the door of the club before slipping away inside.


	3. Fumbles

Waiting outside the club, Ian didn't dare go in; for fear, he is recognized by either the staff or regulars, tipping Mickey off that he was being followed.

He had been building himself up to this all day and just couldn't bring himself to leave the house.

 _Damn it's cold out here_ he thought to himself, shivering as he lights up a cigarette while he waits, wishing he had at least bought a hat with him as he ducks down behind a car across the street. 

Watching people come and go, he sees some of the regulars for the Friday night. It must have been payday for a lot of them because it was now near eleven and the place was getting busy.

Puffing away on yet another smoke, he tries not to let himself think of what Mickey could be doing in that club right now; with someone else. Now, he had been waiting outside for just over an hour when the door to the club opened and he heard Mickey's familiar voice, accompanied by someone not so familiar. Peeking, Ian watched them cross the street, the unfamiliar individual was dressed in something made entirely of lace it looked like. Their hair a platinum blonde parted to the right and that walk...

“ _So you want to fuck a fairy now? What the Fuck is with you?”_ Ian followed after them slowly at first so he wouldn't be noticed. It's not like there were any places close by in this neighbourhood that he could hide. As they moved uptown more, there were more street lights and late-night businesses and alleys which provided cover saving Ian a few times when Mickey had unexpectedly turned around.

After walking what seemed like forever, Mickey and whoever this guy was, slipped into a pub, midtown, arm in arm. Ducking into the alley, Ian took a few deep breaths, leaning back against the wall of the pub, tears springing to his eyes. Anxiety felt like it was rotting away at his stomach, rising along with sadness and anger. Anger mixed with a touch of jealousy... _of missing him..._

Sniffling, he tries to hold back a sob as the tears come to his eyes making them sting as his heartaches in his chest, longing for the only one that he has ever truly loved; the south side tough guy.

_This is what has to be done, he has to win Mickey back......_

Putting on his fighting face, he hobbles over to the pub door and makes his way inside.

The cheery atmosphere and warmth of the place greeted him as soon as he walked in through the door, a wall of chatter and noise hit him from the people that gathered here, a few of the patrons overly loud and tipsy. _Nothing he couldn't handle_ he told himself as he glanced around the space before spotting Mickey sitting in one of the four booths in front of the bar, alone. Taking a deep breath, Ian walks over to where Mickey is sitting in the booth, with his back to Ian. Nervously, Ian rubs the ring with his fingers in his pocket as he hesitates, unsure of what he should say. Taking the ring out of his pocket, he looks at it, turning it over between his fingers in the light of the pub, he realized that this made sense

“ _This is it.”_ he told himself _“It's now or never!”_

Holding the ring between his fingers, looking up, he could see the blonde coming back towards the table.

 _Shit!_ His fingers fumbled and shook, he dropped the ring. The noise of it clattering to the floor echoed in his ears like it was the loudest thing in the room. Crouching down, he struggled but managed to grab it before it rolled away to places unreachable.

Looking up again, now with the ring in his fingers, the blonde had returned and was standing next to the booth, a beer in one hand and some girly mixed drink in the other.

“Oh, hello..”

Ian looked up to see the blonde smiling down at him.

“Uh, Hi.”

“Are you OK? Do you need some help?”

The look on Ian's face changed to disdain and jealousy leapt up in his throat as he grabbed one of his crutches and pushed himself up from the crouching position.

Mickey started to get up out of the booth “Ian, this is Co....” Ian put out a hand, stopping Mick “Don't bother.”

Ian leapt at the man, falling with him to the ground, pinning the stranger as he pulled his arm back, ready to throw a punch.

“Ian! Ian! Wait!” Ian could hear the familiar voice behind him he knew was Byron.

“Shut-Up, Byron!” he snapped

“Whoa! Whoa!!”

There was a familiar grip on his wrist and he was being pulled off by Mickey “Don't Ian...”

“Ahh!!” Ian tries to wriggle out of Mickey's grip but wasn't successful when Mickey spun him around, grabbing the other wrist, Ian's hand still clenched in a fist. He could feel the ring pressing into his palm as Mickey's fingers got tighter, refusing to let go.

“Ian! Hey, Ian, you need to calm the fuck down, right now.” Ian is breathing heavy, watching as Byron and the bartender help the blonde up.

“What the fuck's up with you, Gallagher?”

By lack of response, it was obvious he didn't have Ian's attention. “Hey!” he said a little louder, giving Ian's arm a shake “Gallagher!”

Ian turns back to Mickey, his pupils wide, his face still held anger but it had diminished and focused on Mickey, his eyes and demeanour softened a bit.

“There he is!” Mickey smiled at him Ian couldn't help but smile back “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? What the fuck are you doing, Mickey?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“This, Mickey! Going out and picking up guys who aren't even your type.”

“Who said I'm picking up guys? What the fuck are you going on about, Gallagher?”

 _Ok, it's time to come clean, Ian._ He sighed, looking down and when he looked back up at Mickey, he wore a look of guilt on his face.

“I've kinda been following you tonight.”

“Since when?” Mickey all but snapped at him, annoyed.

“Since you left Byron's place. I watched you walk away with the trash bag in your hand. I figured that you had split up. Then when you didn't get on the El, I was curious to see where you were going...”

Mickey finished for him “So you followed me to the club...great, I've got a stalker now.”

“Well then you walked out with this guy...what was I supposed to think, Mickey?” Ian snapped letting the anger come out in his voice a little more than intended.

Mickey had a grin on his face as he stared at Ian

“What? What's so funny?”

“Ian, I'd like you to meet Cole.”

Ian turned to the blonde, extending a hand “Look, I”m sorry about all of this. It was just a big misunderstanding. Let me buy you a drink, it's the least I can do.”

Cole took his hand and shook it “Sure, why not. I'll have a purple rain.”

“Consider it done! we'll just be a minute.” Ian turned back to Mickey “Can we sit down? My leg is starting to hurt.”

“I guess it would the way you handled yourself there, Gallagher. Sure, C'mon.” He followed Ian to the booth that he had previously vacated and they sat down to continue their conversation.

“How do the two of you know each other?”

“I was getting to that, Byron introduced us, that's why he's here. Ian, he is a friend of Byron's who was willing to help me with somethin' I've been workin' on...

“Wait!” Ian stopped him “I have something pretty important I wanna say..before...before I...”

Ian gets up out of the booth and very painfully crouches down as best he can, holding out his still closed hand, he opens it to reveal the ring.

“Oh, not this promise ring shit again.”

“No, it's real this time...Mickey Milkovich, Will You Marry Me?”

(By this time, the whole bar was watching them, eagerly awaiting Mickey's answer.)

Ian swore he saw Mickey's jaw drop a little, his eyes wide with surprise and brimming with tears.

“Shit, Gallagher......Of course, I'll Marry You!” Mickey's face now wore the biggest cat ate the canary grin Ian had ever seen as around them, the bar erupted into applause as the gruff-looking bartender shouted as Ian and Mickey kissed.

“A Round On The House To Celebrate The Happy Couple!” once again, the bar erupting in cheers, raising their drinks.

“Here! Here!”


	4. Bonus Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I told myself I would post this when the story got over 300 hits.  
> I woke up this morning and checked to discover that it was already well over that, WOW!......
> 
> Thank You So Much for reading and I hope that you bookmark and continue to check in to see what's new!

The next morning, Mickey sat in the passenger seat of Tami's car, Lip was driving and Ian sat in back, behind Mickey. They were on their way back to Boystown.

“Ian was right, this is totally a chic's car,” Mick smirked, teasingly.

“Hey at least it gets me from point A to B.. how do you do that, Milkovich? Huh?” Lip smiled, looking in the rearview mirror “How are you doing back there, Ian? Do you have enough room?”

“Yeah, I'm good...Hey, why are we going back to Boystown Mickey? And why are we meeting up with Cole?”

Mickey turned around as far as he could “I told you, it's a surprise. You will just have to wait until we get there.”

In the back seat, Ian rolled his eyes

“I saw that, mister!” Lip said in a scolding yet playful tone from the driver's seat “Don't make me come back there!”

The whole car erupted into laughter.

“Seriously though, thanks for the ride, it makes it a hell of a lot easier. Especially with the cripple back there.” Mick thanked Lip as he pointed a thumb towards Ian behind him.

“Hey! You did this to me, remember?”

More laughter as they made their way into Boystown, with Mickey navigating they pulled up to the meeting point right on time.

Mickey held the door for Ian while he got out of the car as Cole came towards them from across the street. Once Ian was safely out, Lip honked the horn and waved before pulling away.

This time, Cole was dressed more masculine in designer clothes. Black jeans and a t-shirt topped off with a black denim jacket and aviators.

“Oh, I am so glad you made it! It's already been one hell of a day! I don't know about you two, but I am ready for lunch.”

“Shall we?” They headed inside the little place Cole had recommended. One of those little hole-in-the-wall Chinese places that weren't well known but was really good.

They had ordered their drinks and decided to do the buffet. As the waitress took their menus and went to get their drinks, Cole looked curiously from Mickey to Ian.

“Have you told him the reason why we're here yet?”

“No, not yet. Why don't you tell him what you do, Cole? That would be a good place to start.”

“Ian, I am a Real Estate agent and while my main focus is selling property, I do have a hand full of clients who have property they are renting out. They just haven't had the best luck with tenants.” At this, he scrunched up his nose a little bit “If you get my drift.”

Ian simply nodded, not sure he understood entirely. “So what's this got to do with us?”

Cole pushed back his chair “I'm going to go up and get some food, leave the two of you to talk for a minute, toodles!”

Both Mickey and Ian watched him walk away, out of earshot

I think that it's time for a little news of my own!” Mickey smiled at Ian, taking his hand across the table. I've been thinking about what Tami said that night, about needing more space?”

“Yeah, and?”

“You know, just us. I think she's right.”

“So now you're siding with Lip too?”

“What? I have no idea what you're talkin' about. I mean, it can't be healthy for us not to have our privacy when we want it and shit like that. So, I've enlisted Cole's help to find us an apartment!”

“Really? You want to move in together?”

“Yeah, why not? We are gonna get married.”

“How are we gonna be able to afford it, Mick? We've also got a wedding to plan.”

“Don't worry, we will make it work. I think that it's important for us to get out of that house. I'm not sayin' it's a bad thing. I love your family to death, but you gotta admit it is kinda crowded.”

Ian's smile grew bigger “Yeah, it kinda is, I agree. I think having our own place would be good for us. I'm just a little worried right now, I mean we're not exactly financially stable, I mean, I have some cash saved but...”

“Whoa whoa, I said don't worry about it, alright, I've got it covered.”

_Pick your Battles, Ian_

“Alright, I trust you.” He gives Mick's hand a gentle squeeze as Cole comes back to join them at the table, a plate full of food in his hands. Both boys look up at him as he gets closer.

“Oh my god! They have the best ginger beef here! Deep-fried, I know but it's just soo good I can't help myself! Be sure to try their fish, it's to die for!”

“Looks like it's our turn!” Mickey commented as he let go of Ian's hand, moving out of the booth so Cole could sit down.

Ian and Mickey got their plates of food and came back to the table. Once they were settled back in, they picked up the conversation.

“So, did you tell him?” Cole asks

“Yep, I'm' game.” Ian said, smiling “Where do we start?”

“Great!” Cole puts down his fork and pulls his tablet out of his man-bag. Tapping it, he puts in his security code and opens up an app before turning it around to show them.”I have a property in mind that I think will be perfect for the two of you. It's in an older building which gives it character and it's affordable. I think you're gonna love it!”


End file.
